Recipe

Dirty rice is jambalaya’s less complex brother, yet in its way, it’s every bit as delicious. Unlike jambalaya, which can be served as a main course, dirty rice is a side dish. It’s also a way to use all the stuff you pull out of the cavity of a whole chicken. While you can use the heart, I usually leave it out because it’s tough, even chopped up. If the liver component of the giblets is about 50 percent, that’s perfect.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Working in 2-3 batches, finely chop the giblets, onion, bell pepper, and celery in a food processor. Set aside. Sauté the ground pork in a skillet until all the pink is gone. Drain the excess fat and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Add the giblet-vegetable mixture and sauté until the onion is clear. Add the Creole seasoning, the 2 teaspoons of salt, Worcestershire sauce, crushed red pepper, and marjoram, and stir to combine. Cover the pot, lower the heat, and let simmer while you prepare the rice.

3. Put the stock, rice, and salt to taste into another saucepan. Bring the stock to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover, and cook 25 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

4. When the rice is cooked, fluff it with a kitchen fork and add it to the pan with the chicken-vegetable mixture. Add the ground pork and stir to distribute all the ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Place the rice loosely in a casserole dish and bake for 5 minutes, or longer if the rice is very damp. It should be a little dry but not hard.